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Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. She recently wrote an opinion piece for The Hill, an excerpt of which is below.

"The deficit was $779 billion this past year?! How on earth did that happen?!," lawmakers gasp.

The numbers are terrible. It is indeed cause for alarm, and it necessitates action. To have a deficit this large during a period of prosperity (when we should ideally be running surpluses) is nearly unprecedented.

But, to our leaders; can we please drop the political antics?

Not all lawmakers are at fault here, that’s for sure. Those who voted against the shockingly irresponsible Republican tax cut and the bipartisan budget-busting spending increases are not complicit in the massive uptick in the deficit.